Paris Olympics: With American Record, Regan Smith Finds Silver Lining in 200 Butterfly

Regan Smith with her silver medal from the women's 200 butterfly -- Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Paris Olympics: With American Record, Regan Smith Finds Silver Lining in 200 Butterfly

So far this week in Paris, two silver medals. Add in her results from three years ago in Tokyo, and the total is four silver medals and one bronze. But Regan Smith has trained herself not to think that way, to obsess over a target she cannot control herself. Focus on execution, on trusting her training and riding her confidence, and let the results play out.

That mentality allowed Smith to fully appreciate her success Thursday evening after the 200 butterfly Olympic final. Yes, the medal she earned was silver, but she broke her own American record in the process, recording a time good enough to win any previous Olympic final. Her 2:03.84 was faster than any other swimmer aside from McIntosh has recorded in a textile suit.

“I didn’t know if I was capable of a 2:03 tonight, so I’m thrilled with it. A best time is amazing. I knew I would be in the conversation for gold, but I literally could not ask any more of myself in that race. That was literally all I could do,” Smith said. “I’m not too worried about medal count and what I need in order to do to get a specific color of medal. I think it’s about focusing on your race plan. And if you get too caught up in things like colors of medals, I think that’s how you’re going to crumble.”

Smith knows what that feels like: it’s what happened at her first Olympics, when pressure and expectations weighed her down. Her excellence at the 2019 World Championships, where she set world records in both backstroke events, had become a burden during the COVID-19 pandemic, when elite racing opportunities crashed to a halt.

Regan Smith — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

After leaving Tokyo without a gold medal and without swimming close to her best times in backstroke events, Smith spent more than a year searching for the right mix that could revitalize her career, which she eventually found training under Bob Bowman, then at Arizona State University and now at the University of Texas. In 2023, best times came back into the picture. Earlier this year, she broke a world record for the first time in five years.

After her first Paris silver medal in the 100 backstroke, Smith proclaimed pride in her own performance but perhaps with some slight reservations. She lauded rival Kaylee McKeown, but she had come up short of her best time, that aforementioned world record from the U.S. Olympic Trials. The 200 fly, a totally different situation.

She only knocked three hundredths off her previous American record, but when she clocked 2:03.87 in early June 2023, she was swimming at a tune-up meet against no elite competition and with no indication she was about to take down a 14-year-old mark that dated back to the supersuit era. This was an Olympic final against Summer McIntosh, a teenager who may finish this meet regarded as the world’s premier swimmer. Intensity and pressure back on.

And Smith went her best time, no gold medal but no conflicting emotions to reconcile here, especially not when McIntosh needed to swim the second-fastest time ever to beat Smith for gold.

“I don’t want to think about what it means to win gold versus silver because I think when you get so wrapped up in your head about that, then you’re never going to be happy. I feel like when you do win the gold, it’s like, ‘OK, well what’s after that?’ I just want to be proud of myself regardless, and I know that sounds like such a cliché answer, but it’s true,” Smith said.

“I think if this had happened to me three years ago, I would have been so unbelievably gutted, and it would have really affected my mental health for a long time, and it did. I was struggling after Tokyo for a really long time, but I’m glad that I have a lot more life experience. I’m older now, and I think I’m in a much better place in my life with swimming.”

The maturity Smith has gained since Tokyo showed as she expounded on a perspective she has spent years crafting and working to embrace. Training with Bowman has certainly provided a physical boost, but without the mental side, she would not have returned to this medal-winning level, likely to exceed her results from her prior Games.

“It’s the biggest passion that I’ve ever had in my entire life, but it’s not my entire life,” Smith said. “If I walk away as a gold medalist in a relay or an individual event, excellent. And if I don’t, I’m still me, and it’s going to be just fine, so I’m going to be proud of myself no matter what, as long as I do the races I know that I’m capable of. If I fall short performance-wise, then I have something to be upset about. But tonight, I can’t be upset at all.”

Smith still has at least two races left this week: a 200 backstroke final for which she qualified sixth (she conserved energy in that race, which took place just an hour after the 200 fly final) and the U.S. women’s 400 medley relay, which she will lead off. She may also take part in the mixed 400 medley relay. Keep nailing the details in her races, and she could certainly leave Paris with that elusive gold.

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